GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Maxime Rooney led Florida with two individual victories on the final day against the Buckeyes and Wildcats at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Natatorium. The No. 5 ranked Gators defeated No. 14 Ohio State, 317.5-263.5, and No. 25 Kentucky, 389.5-191.5.
Rooney collected his first win in the 200 Free, where he posted an NCAA B Cut. Kieran Smith finished in second and Grady Heath added points with a fifth-place finish.
Rooney notched his second victory in the 100 Free, where he out touched fellow teammate Khader Baqlah, giving Florida the top-two spots.
The Gators dominated the 1,000 Free as they earned three of the top-four spots. Baqlah and Robert Finke nearly tied. Baqlah finished in first with a 9:04.74, just one one-hundredth of a second in front of Finke. Drew Clark added a fourth-place finish.
Smith, Alex Lebed, and Finke gave Florida another sweep in the 400 IM. Smith led the field with an NCAA B Cut, while Lebed and Finke finished in second and third, respectively.
Clark Beach tied for first in the 100 Back, while his brother, Ethan Beach finished in fifth. Florida swept the 200 Back, as Ethan Beach, Finke, and Miguel Cancel finished one, two, and three.
Stanley Wu took home second in the 100 Breast, while Dillon Hillis and Chandler Bray tied for fourth. Wu placed second in the 200 Breast and Bray added a fifth-place performance.
In the 200 Fly, Erge Gezmis collected a third-place finish. Gezmis added another third-place swim in the 500 Free.
Stokowski posted the fastest time in the 100 Fly and picked up his first win of the day.
Santiago Morales recorded a career-high 278.55 points as he led Florida on the Platform. He placed seventh.
The 400 Medley Relay team of Kacper Stokowski, Marco Guarente, Smith, and Will Davis finished in second. Will Davis, Rooney, Smith, and Christoph Margotti, ended the meet with a second-place finish in the 200 Free Relay.
From the coaches – Head Coach Anthony Nesty
- “It’s always great to be at home, to see our fans, and all the parents.”
- “It’s still early in the season, but I thought our kids battled well. We still have a lot more work to do.”
- “A lot of guys stuck out. Our seniors showed great leadership. They are leading these guys and bringing them together as a team.”
From the coaches – Diving Coach Bryan Gillooly
- “Although we aren’t quite on the level of OSU at this point, the men held their own and did a great job against SEC rival Kentucky.”
- “Freshman Nick Lydon did some of his best diving of the season and Santiago Morales did an outstanding job on Platform with a personal-best score.”
- “After coming off winter break with just a few practices before the meet, we showed a lot of promise for the second half of the season.”
Gators Chomp Buckeyes, Wildcats in Home Opener
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida closed out the tri-meet with No. 13 Kentucky and No. 22 Ohio State at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Natatorium the way the meet started, in first place. It was an all-around team effort as UF bested UK 300.5-280.5 and OSU 403-178.
Sherridon Dressel finished the two-day meet winning seven of her eight events. On day two she added victories in the 50 Free, 100 Free, and the 200 Free Relay. She notched a season-best time of 49.04, good for an NCAA B Cut, in her 100 Free win.
Dressel added a second-place finish in the 100 Fly and was joined on the podium by Georgia Marris, who placed third.
The 400 Medley Relay team of Emma Ball, Vanessa Pearl, Mabel Zavaros, and Bella Garofalo started day two off with a victory, just out touching the Kentucky squad, with a time of 3:39.01.
Kelly Fertel and Pearl posted strong showings in the 100 and 200 Breast. The pair finished in second and third, respectively, in both events for the Gators. Savanna Faulconer added a fourth-place finish in the 200 Breast, which earned points towards the team score.
Fertel and Pearl finished first and second, respectively, in the 400 IM. The two posted NCAA B Cuts in the process.
Garofalo tallied a third-place finish in the 50 Free. She claimed more points for UF in the 100 Free with her fourth-place performance. Also in the 100 Free, Kelsey Dambacher came in fifth and added to the team total.
Taylor Ault, Leah Braswell, and Faulconer collected points in the 1,000 Free. Ault placed second, Braswell finished fourth, and Faulconer came in fifth.
Ault added a second-place finish in the 500 Free. Ault was joined by Hannah Burns and Braswell inside the Top-5. Burns finished in fourth, while Braswell took fifth.
Ball notched a second-place finish in the 100 Back and Sydney Sell rounded out the Top-5 in fifth.
Mabel Zavaros picked up points in the 200 Back with her third-place finish. Sell contributed to the team total as she placed fourth. Rosie Zavaros finished in fifth.
Lauren Snider paced the women’s diving team in Orlando with a third-place finish on the platform with a score of 234.90.
Mabel Zavaros and Burns collected Top-5 times in the 200 Fly when they finished third and fourth, respectively.
Dressel, Garofalo, Ball, and Fertel ended the meet with a bang! The 200 Free Relay team just edged Ohio State, to win the final event of the day.
From the coaches – Head Coach Jeff Poppell
- “Sherridon Dressel may have had the best dual meet of her college career. She was outstanding both individually and on relays. She was a major reason we were able to stay in the lead heading into the meet’s final events.”
- “One of the biggest things I was really proud of was our leadership. We’ve heard a lot about our freshmen, but you’ve got to give a lot of credit to our juniors and seniors. They swam great and more importantly they provided great leadership.”
From the coaches – Diving Coach Bryan Gillooly
- “The women’s diving team at Florida is showing that we are now on par with the best teams in the country. Kentucky and OSU are great teams and the Gators proved that they are in the conversation as one of the best and deepest teams in the NCAA.”
- “Now we need to focus on championship meet training and start getting ready for the post season. We’ve been experimenting with some new dives and now we can work on putting our lists together for SEC’s and zones.”
- “Another great job by Brooke, who still isn’t 100 percent physically, and Abby Howell got her first zone score of the season on 3-meter.”
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